


Blue

by saltylikecrait



Series: The Time Between [8]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, F/M, Force Ghost(s), Jealousy, Post-Battle of Scarif, Regret, Trust Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-02-29 20:22:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18785542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltylikecrait/pseuds/saltylikecrait
Summary: On a trip to Scarif, Finn realizes that trust goes both ways.





	Blue

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Finnrey Friday!

Going to Scarif bothered him. Not that he thought it was dangerous – radiation levels were far lower than the New Republic originally predicted and safe enough for humans to explore – it was the fact he knew what had happened there long before he was born. The First Order taught about the fall of Scarif like the world had been infested with vermin instead of a small group of rebels and that the life on the world hadn’t been extinguished quick enough. That had been the start of the Empire’s fall, he was told, for the rebels had gained what they needed for their first major victory. Everything after had been a domino effect.

When he ended up with the Resistance, Finn learned another side to the story. He learned about the group that went to Scarif, knowing it was a suicide mission. About the defector that made it all possible, the woman who found a sense of purpose and gave the rebellion hope again, the spy that wanted to make things right…

Finn thought he might have found a group he had a few things in common with, too bad that none of them survived to see the fruits of their labor…

Scarif was still thought of as a dead planet, like Jedha before it. The idea of going to a ghost of a world made Finn uncomfortable.

“I don’t think we’re gonna find much, Finn,” Rose told him while they were packing up. “A dead planet’s a dead planet. If anything is alive there, it’s just gonna be plants.”

Really, they were just going there to scout the area to see what they could find. Imperial remnants, a natural formation that would be a perfect hideout, First Order operations...

It was a small group going: Finn, Rose, Rey, Chewbacca, and C’ai. Everyone had their roles, whether it was scouting and surveying, mechanics, or flying. It would only be a short trip and their transport was hence only prepped for less than a week of rations.

Upon arrival, the group looked down below to the blue planet they were about to land on in silence. The New Republic made sure that everyone had remembered Scarif. Few ventured to this world, convinced that only the ghosts of Imperials and Rebels still walked it.

C’ai glanced at the world confused, then looked down at his geographical map and back to the world again. [This isn’t right,] he said. [Nothing matches. Were we given the right maps?]

Rose was the one to step in, trying to help decipher the issue.

“It’s the right map, but outdated. I think the Death Star’s blast must have altered the landscape.” She pointed to a spot on the map. “Look, this kind of matches, but maybe it was flooded.”

C’ai nodded, though he did not seem happy with that answer. This meant he would have to rethink where they would land and that they couldn’t rely on their maps when they explored the area. He scanned the world and the part of it he had originally intended to land on, recalculating the best place and one that might not have any natural obstacles that could prevent them from getting off and getting back on the shuttle. Finally, he found a clearing on a sandbar large enough to be an island.

The first thing Finn noticed about Scarif was how blue the sea and sky were. Finn felt a sense of surrealism as he looked around the tropical landscape. The sun was warm against his skin and he thought about how nice it would be to lounge in its warmth for hours.

That feeling of wonder quickly dissipated when he realized how silent it was outside. There were no calls from local avian wildlife, no sound of creatures ruffling through the foliage. All was quiet. The Death Star had destroyed all life here, save for some sea creatures, insects, and tiny rodents able to burrow far under the ground to avoid the worst of the destruction. Large creatures – the Empire being one – did not survive. Those tiny creatures that seemed so insignificant before now were the top of the food chain and with what little research that had been made in the last three decades, they thrived now that the plants had regrown and reproduced with stability. Finn wondered what this world would look like a millennium from now. Would those little rodents change into something bigger, no longer threatened by the larger predators that once stalked them through the brush? 

Yet Finn had a feeling that there was something more here, but he couldn’t explain what.

He must have looked worried, because Rose came up to brush her hand against his shoulder. “Hey,” she said. “It’s all right ‘fraidy-cat. There’s nothing here.”

That didn’t ease his anxiety at all.

Rose frowned at him and leaned up to kiss him on the cheek. It didn’t make him feel any better.

“Relax,” she tried again. “You got Jedi girl and a Wookiee looking out for you.”

Finn looked over to see Rey looking over at him and Rose before quickly glancing away. He had noticed this had become a common occurrence with her, especially when Rose was around. For the last couple of months, Rey seemed a lot more melancholy but Finn summed it up to being part of the aftermath of learning that Luke was not the teacher she was looking for. 

The look she gave him, as sad and tired as it was, had more to it.

He wanted to ask her why, but something told him it might be something he shouldn’t butt in. If Rey had something to say to him, surely she would tell him? He thought their friendship was tight knit and secure enough for that.

He kept his thoughts to himself.

“Do you feel it too?” Rey finally asked him.

“What?”

“There’s something out there,” she whispered. “I’m not sure what.”

“Is it dangerous?” Finn grew worried again.

There was a pause while Rey thought, as if she were concentrating on her surroundings.

“I don’t think so,” she finally said. “It means us no harm.” She didn’t sound completely convinced, however.

Despite this, the three of them headed out to the jungle. Finn admitted to himself that he kind of liked just hanging out with Rey and Chewbacca. Sometimes, with Rose around, Finn noticed how Rey seemed to distance herself from them. He wondered if she and Rose didn’t get along but he had never thought to ask, worried that he might stir something up on accident. Rose sometimes eyed Rey warily, like she was keeping a close watch on her. OK, so that meant there was mistrust, but Finn had no idea where that had come from. 

Chewbacca and Rey kept an eye on things while Finn was busy looking at the meter he was using to tell if there was any radiation in the area.

“Huh,” he began. “Radiation levels are low, maybe just slightly above average…”

Rey puzzled over the thought. “Didn’t the Death Star use a giant kyber crystal to power its beams?” she asked out loud. “I don’t think kyber would emit radiation, though some other stuff that powered the Death Star might have. It wasn't a giant nuclear bomb,” She shuddered at the thought. Nuclear weapons were largely put in disuse. Centuries of fighting left worlds dead and uninhabitable. Additionally, leftover nuclear weapons were a pain to dispose of, which largely contributed to why they lost popularity. Once weapons like the Death Star - bigger, better, _badder_ weapons - were created, there was no use for the others.

Every once in a while, Rey would glance suddenly in one direction, then, calmly settle herself down. Finn knew the feeling of being watched, and he had that feeling now though he was not sure if he could attribute it to Rey’s behavior or not. He thought it would be best to keep an open eye.

It wasn’t until nightfall that he realized what that something was.

He took a shift to keep watch through the night while Rey and Chewbacca slept. Only for a couple of hours; he could stand boredom for that long. About an hour into his time, he felt the air shift, and the world seemed to warp. Then, in the foliage, he spotted an unearthly blue glow that reminded him of a dimmer version of the glow of the broken lightsaber that Rey always kept close to her.

…Come to think of it, she never told him how it broke.

The glow drew closer and Finn instinctively readied his blaster for anything.

Then he heard voices. More like whispers.

A group of three human appeared. Two men and a woman. It was like looking into the past with their old gear. One even wore the insignia of the Empire. But what Finn was more focused on was how iridescent they were, surrounded with that blue glow that seemed to outline them.

The one wearing the Imperial symbol on his shoulder spoke first. He glanced at Finn curiously, then smiled.

“Well then,” he said, his voice echoing as if the sound were being blocked from carrying too far. “It seems like you and I aren’t so different.”

“Huh?” Finn wasn’t sure what was going on.

“I was given a second chance too.” The ghost – and Finn guessed they were ghosts by the way they behaved - looked out at the sea, visible here through the trees. “I made sure I chose the right side the second time.”

The woman next to him smiled, causing Finn to notice how young they all had been when they died. She might have been the youngest of the three, though it was hard to tell. All three of them looked like they had seen far too much during their short lives.

She approached Finn and bent her knees to get a better look at him.

“Your friend is losing hope,” she sighed. 

Friend? He was trying to figure out who the woman was talking about. Then, he remembered what Rey had said to him earlier about how she sensed something otherworldly. “Rey?” he asked.

The woman nodded. “She has a lot of weight on her shoulders and she's full of regret. Those may make all the difference in this war you’re in.” She sighed again, deeper. “All that work and sacrifice to end one war, only for its outcome to directly bring about the next."

Finn's heart clenched. Would they defeat the First Order only to find decades later that all their hard work was for naught? 

“I don’t think you need to worry too much,” said the final ghost, a man with an accent that Finn did not recognize. He had a face that Finn would have found trustworthy in life, had their paths ever crossed. “Well, maybe a little bit, but not about what comes after.”

“What should I be worried about?” Finn noticed the woman giving the second man a hesitant glance. “Rey?”

“She hasn’t told you the whole story,” warned the woman.

“Wait,” Finn furrowed his brows. “What are you talking about? Are you saying she’s hiding something? Like something bad?”

“Back when I was alive, I had to learn that trust goes both ways,” the second man with the heavier accent said. The woman shot him a quiet but affectionate glance, which he mirrored. “You and your friend won’t be on the same page unless that’s also true for you.”

That still didn’t exactly tell Finn what was wrong, though it gave him a heads up that he and Rey needed to talk about… something.

He thought back to the broken lightsaber and all the questions he still had, realizing that maybe that would be a good place to start.

“I don’t know your names,” he told the spirits.

They took only a moment to give them and just as mysteriously as they appeared, the three vanished into the air, like they had never been there to begin with.

When his shift was over, he padded back to the campsite, finding that Rey was up and getting ready to go looking for him.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted. “I told Chewie I’ll take next watch too.” Then, she stopped, noting the odd expression on Finn’s face. “Is something the matter?”

“I saw _Rogue One,”_ he began, not sure how to explain what he just experience. “At least, I think I saw some of their crew.”

She nodded like she understood what he was talking about. “I know,” she said. “I saw them too.”

He shifted uncomfortably as he tried to think of the right way to broach the subject he was about to bring up. Then, finally, words came to him.

“They said something that worries me and I realized that you never told me about how the lightsaber broke.” He waited to see her reaction.

Rey’s widened eyes told him that she was not expecting this. Awkwardly, she stared at her boots. “I-" she started, stopping herself. “It’s a long story.”

“I’ll stay up with you,” Finn offered. “You can tell me then.”

“But you need to sleep,” she insisted, but he knew she was just feigning concern about his health to try to get out of giving her story.

“I’ll sleep when you’re done,” he promised. “But I want to know, Rey.” He paused, debating whether he should continue with his next thought. Finn took a deep breath. “I need to know I can still trust you.”

He had seen fear on Rey’s face before, but never like this. It was a combination of shock and hurt where hopelessness seeped through. It made him feel guilty to make her feel like this.

“You don’t trust me?” she asked, quietly.

Quickly realizing that he may have hurt her, Finn shook his head. “It’s not that, but for the few months, I’ve had a feeling that you’ve been hiding something from everyone. You just haven’t been yourself, and that worries me.”

She bit her lip, shifting her gaze between him and the nearest palm tree. "I did something I regret," she said, quietly. "Sometimes, I just want to forget."

"You don't have to carry that alone," he told her. "We're all behind you."

It was another moment before she began her story. "I didn't come straight to the Resistance from Ahch-To," she started.

Finn allowed her to tell the story without interruption, but at times, it was difficult to. His eyes widened the more she spoke. This... was a lot to take in.

He knew that Rey felt guilty and he kinda understood why she did what she did, but still, part of him felt betrayed. He had known Kylo as a stormtrooper, known how he treated and manipulated others. Of course, almost getting killed by him didn't help matters, but he thought Rey was smart enough to know that the Knight of Ren was just playing her. Why suddenly put some trust into someone that didn't deserve it when she never trusted anyone in all her years on Jakku? Even if she did it in hopes of making a quick ploy to stop the First Order, Rey should have known that Kylo couldn't be relied on to make a sudden turn and be trusted to remain an ally.

His face must have shown this, because Rey's lower lip trembled and she stood up and walked away.

"Rey, wait!" Finn followed after her, knowing that things were not going to be the same between them, but he wanted her to stay in his life. Finn might not know a lot about many things, but he did know it was never too late to make things right.


End file.
